Love Among The Townhouses

Love Among the Townhouses

Bruce Von Stiers

There are three sisters who live in a townhouse in New York's West Village. These sisters are Liz, Lydia and Mary Perry. They inherited the townhouse from their parents who died in a tragic accident. But the thing is, the townhouse still has a mortgage on it. And the sisters don't have enough money to pay off the mortgage. They could solve all of their problems by selling the townhouse to a real estate developer. But they don't want to.

This is pretty much the backbone of a new romantic comedy called Townhouse Confidential. The film gives a strong nod to Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. In fact, the promo description for the film tells us that the parents, and their daughters, were big Jane Austen fans.

One of the sisters, Mary, has a blog titled Townhouse Confidential. There she keeps readers up on what's happening in her New York West Village neighborhood. We first see the blog where Mary's tearing down a guy named George Barrow. Mary's blog is claiming the Barrow is trying to turn the West Village into some kind of hedge fund Disneyland. Mary is played by Allison Wick, who has been seen in shows such as Bull, Chicago Med and FBI. Along with trashing Barrow, Mary dishes out the move ins, move outs, break-up and other things among her neighbors on her blog.

Next we see Liz, who opens the front door for Sophie, a family friend who is trying to find a tenant for the sister's garden apartment. The rent will help pay the mortgage on the townhouse. We learn that Lydia is a personal trainer, whose clients include some hedge fund guys. And that Liz works in a bakery, icing cupcakes. We find out that indeed Sophie has found them a tenant. He is single, never married, early thirties, no kids, no pets and rakes in a bunch of money each year. Perfect? We'll see. Liz is played by Samantha Simone. Sam, as Simone is more commonly known, had a recurring role on Blue Bloods and has been in several short and feature films. Brittany Bennett is Lydia. She has been in films such as Paperback and A Drunk Scorpion Will Sting Itself To Death. Sophie is played by Pepi Streiff. She had a recurring role on Love Is_ and has been seen in several short and feature fil ms.

We meet George Barrow as he's giving a presentation. He is showing how investors can own entire blocks in the West Village, where they can work live, and shop, within a contained neighborhood. When questioned about the project, Barrow assures the person that it's a done deal, with everyone from the mayor on down agreeing to the project. And that they've hired the top real estate brokers to work towards securing all of the properties. Lee Tyler plays Barrow. Along with have been in short films such as Female Narrative, Tyler has extensive theater experience and is a founding member of the Bad Guru film collective.

There are a lots of bits and pieces of the story that by the end of the film, have melded together. George is best friends with the Perry sisters new tenant, Jonathan Grove. George doesn't quite have the financing he needs so he strikes a deal with a couple of guys name Sal and Big Sal, who say they are mortgage lenders but they are really loan sharks. And then there is a hunky handyman named Tommy who thinks too much of himself and never seems to repair things in the garden apartment that Liz has hired him to do. Throw in Jim, a new personal trainer client of Lydia's, George's mom, Kathryn Waverly, Liz's gay co-worker and best friend Billie Jane, a police detective named Ortiz and Liz's friend Charlotte and you have a whole Caesar Salad of characters and plot elements.

Jonathan Grove is played by Russell Sperberg. Jonas Barranca is Tommy. Danny Bolero is Ortiz and Ernest Price is Billie Jane. Georgia Kate Haege plays Kathryn Waverly. Charlotte is played by Ashley Grombol. Big Sal is played by Al Linea who you might have seen in films like The Irishman. And Joseph D'Onofrio, whose acting career spans all the way back to Goodfellas, plays Sal. Corey Stonebrook plays Jim.

Anyone who knows the story of Elizabeth and Darcy from Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice will see somewhat of a parallel to the story in this film. Thinly veiled references to the Elizabeth and Darcy love story are sprinkled throughout the film. In fact, one of the scenes in the film has Charlotte telling Liz about hooking up with Sal. When Liz is appalled, Charlotte tells her “not everybody is looking for a Mr. Darcy, with the uncertain domestic bliss of love and marriage and kids and happily ever after.” The film keeps trying to throw Liz and George together, but as he's trying to buy her townhouse and she wants to save it, the two of them are destined to be enemies, not lovers.

The film was directed by Patrick Perez Vidauri, whose work includes the films In Other Words, Divorce Bait and the upcoming Answer To My Prayers. The cinematographer was Istvan Lettang, who also worked on In Other Words and Divorce Bait along with films such as Demon Pit and Good Thief.

Rosalind Resnick was an executive producer of the film, with Lawrence Scott producing. The film was based on a novel of the same name by Resnick. In addition to being a writer and producer, Resnick is also a real estate magnate. Several of her West Village townhouses were used for the film.

The film also features several iconic West Village locations, including The Little Branch Bar, John's Pizzeria and the Magnolia Bakery, the bakery where Liz frosts cupcakes.

The music was done by Robert Rospide. Other people involved in the production of the film included Izzy Church, Audrey Worrell, Alina Barreto and Cristina Nava.

The film won the Best Feature award at the 2022 New York Independent Film Festival.

There is so much more I could say about this film, but I wouldn't want to act as a spoiler. I would just say that, for me, it was fun, sometimes silly comedy. I couldn't help but root for the sisters finding a way to keep their house. And if Liz can find her Darby, even if it isn't who she thought he might be, well, even better. The locations were great and the acting was terrific. The cinematography was excellent and the scenes blend well.

Townhouse Confidential can be streamed on Vudu, Google Play Movies and Amazon Prime. You can also purchase a physical copy of the film through amazon or other film retailers.

You can learn more about the film, watch it's trailer and even check out some Townhouse Confidential merchandise at the film's official website at https://townhouseconfidential.com/

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